Chapter 559: Midnight dreams of Little Qi (2) (2/2)

Little Qi retched a few times, but couldn’t throw anything up. He suddenly grew fearful, beating against his chest and stomach until he began to cry and shout. “Daddy! I want daddy! I want daddy…sobsob….”

It was hard to breathe to begin with, but his crying made it even more difficult. His little face turned red with effort as he fearfully retched repeatedly. It seemed like he’d feel better if he just vomited, but he physically couldn’t. He tried standing, then lying down on his stomach, then finally rolling around on the ground as he wailed in heartrending misery. The fine features of his face had all distorted in agony.

Finally, he rolled to Head Elder Ling’s feet and begged, “Uncle Ling…save Little Qi…. Uncle Ling, Little Qi feels bad…sobsob…”

Head Elder Ling backed away, but Little Qi crawled towards him again. Head Elder retreated once more, but Little Qi rolled towards him one more time and hugged his shoe like his final straw of hope. “Sobsob….sobsob…”

But Head Elder Ling simply kicked him, sending Little Qi tumbling away until he lost all strength. He sprawled on the ground as if dead, his breathing weak. By now he couldn’t even muster up the energy to cry, but whimpered out, “Ma…”

What was ‘ma?’

He didn’t know. He was like a newborn baby who didn’t know anything, but instinctively sought the comfort of a mother’s arms and protection. As he murmured and wept, he gradually fell asleep. Perhaps he’d wake up, perhaps he never would.

—

Three days later, Little Qi regained consciousness. But ever since then, he lost all ability to consume normal food. At first, he would retch at the very sight of it. Later, when hunger drove him to try again, he’d spit up everything he put in his mouth as an involuntary action. He had no idea why this was happening.

Head Elder Ling said that this was his so-called ‘strange illness.’ Little Qi didn’t believe him, but daddy had said the same thing so he accepted it. He could only drink medicine, but it wasn’t just for his three meals anymore. Now he drank medicine whenever he felt hungry, and even the bitterest brews were delicious to him. He never spat those up.

Gradually, Little Qi began to grow skilled from drinking his medicines. Even without a teacher, he could differentiate between dozens of medicine and their properties. Thus, he began to study medicine itself, comparing notes with books and manuals while using his own body to test their effects. He easily grasped the characteristics of various medicinal ingredients and even began to make prescriptions and plant medicine of his own.

Eventually, he grew older. He stopped stubbornly wishing for his daddy because he understood the significance of titles such as ‘Academy Head’ and ‘Head Elder.’ He understood how his status and identity would affect his daddy’s future prospects, and his contributions to the medical community as a unique existence. He did get to see daddy a few times and called him that in secret, but always kept quiet when outsiders were around. Instead of longing to meet daddy all the time, he began to think of ways to help him and the medical academy save even more lives.

Just like that, six more years passed.

Within these six years, Little Qi had cultivated almost a hundred different new species of medicinal plants, more than any clan in Medicine City. All of the plants had saved countless people from the torment of disease and even death.

Soon enough, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month rolled around again—Little Qi’s birthday. Head Elder Ling took him out of the medical academy that day, but had people tie him up as soon as they reached a secret chamber.

“Head Elder Ling, what’s the meaning of this?” Twelve-year-old Little Qi demanded, his voice still childish, but scornful.

“Little Qi, you mustn’t be impolite.”

At the familiar sound, Little Qi turned to see his father, Academy Head Gu.

His mind turned blank with shock. “Father…”

Academy Head Gu ignored him and went to a table to grab a bowl full of black soup. Little Qi recognized it as poison, but couldn’t tell what type of toxin it might be. “Father, you….just what are you doing?”

Academy Head Gu carefully sniffed the bowl of poison to make sure it was right, before walking over. “Little Qi, be good. Drink this down.” Perhaps he had always thought that Little Qi was still the obedient and ignorant child he knew.

Little Qi pursed his lips and stared at his father, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He seemed to suddenly understand something and yet still nothing at all. Academy Head Gu didn’t force him, but he handed over the poison to Head Elder Ling, who pried open Little Qi’s lips and stuffed a metal tube into his mouth. Then he force-fed the liquid down his throat.

This ‘poison’ wasn’t really a typical toxin, nor was it medicine. It was called Medicate Poison and could be used to make people ill on purpose. Before two hours had passed, Medicate Poison took effect. Little Qi sported red bumps all over his body that began to itch unbearably as his temperature turned scalding hot like a fever.

This Medicate Poison was used to stimulate leprosy.

Little Qi finally knew what daddy and Head Elder Ling were planning. His eyes filled with more tears as he stared at his father and stubbornly refused to speak. Unfortunately, his father didn’t care about the tears in his eyes at all. He was more interested in the changes happening to his body. The two of them refused to treat Little Qi for three entire days just to observe the progress of disease on his body. The high fever didn’t retreat while the itching intensified. They untied one of Little Qi’s hands so he could scratch himself, then observed the bleeding injuries from the scratches.

Even the strongest mountain had to bend before disease. Little Qi’s fever left him in a dazed stupor as he scratched himself subconsciously. It didn’t take a day before the skin on his stomach and arm were all bloody from his nails.

Finally, the two men began to use medicine. Typically speaking, leprosy at this stage was incurable, but they were using Little Qi as a human experiment. Each time they would try with a different medicine and observe its effects over the course of two days. In the end, they ended up experimenting for an entire month before finding the best acupuncture techniques and prescription. By now, the 12-year-old Little Qi had been reduced to skin and bones, his body a mass of cuts and bruises. He looked no different from a corpse.

As his high fever receded, he slowly raised his head and called out his young and childish voice, “Daddy…you should just kill Little Qi.”